


Heat

by Scrunchles



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Come Inflation, Knotting, M/M, Mpreg, Oviposition, mermaid au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-25
Updated: 2017-02-25
Packaged: 2018-09-26 21:39:07
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,209
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9923168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scrunchles/pseuds/Scrunchles
Summary: Mako could smell the stupid fish before he even surfaced.  It was a disgusting scent, but at the same time it was somehow appealing.  Like the smell of one’s own BO.It’s horrible, but he takes a deeper whiff anyway and dips his hand into the water.Mako figures he’s safe.  They are separate species.  Just because the fish was all over him every chance he got, and Mako felt a creeping possession in turn, didn’t mean that he had to worry about bonding with him, right?... right?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [brundlebambi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/brundlebambi/gifts).



> Inspired by all of [Brundle-Bambi's wonderful merman au art](http://puddingsnacks.tumblr.com/tagged/junkfish) and headcanons.

There it was.

Mako could smell the stupid fish before he even surfaced.  It was a disgusting scent, but at the same time it was somehow appealing.  Like the smell of one’s own BO.

It’s horrible, but he takes a deeper whiff anyway and dips his hand into the water.

Sharp teeth nibble at the tip of his index finger, and a slimy webbed hand wraps around his wrist.  He hates that this is the norm, that fishing up some half-assed shit for brains merman and dragging him into his boat was what he did on a regular basis.  

Slimy arms wrap around his shoulders, and a playful mouth teases his neck.

“Fuck off,” Mako says gruffly.

“Nah,” the shitty merman replies, smiling against his jaw.  He knew better than to worry about Mako lashing out.  No matter how tough Mako’s facade got, no matter how intimate the skinny half-fish’s advances became, he hadn’t once actually resisted the affection.

Mako casts his line and ignores the slimy kisses and nuzzles against his jaw and chin and the goddamned purring that vibrates against his chest and belly.

They just sit like that, the merman occasionally returning to the water to avoid drying out and Mako catching fish between his dips.  Every day that Mako fishes, they sit like that.

He whines when Mako leaves, but he knows that Mako will be back.  He had come back nearly every other day since the fish had first invited his way into Mako’s boat a month ago, and, lately, Mako had started to feel possessive of him.  

Despite his absolute dislike for the merman, Mako still came back under the guise of drinking beer and fishing and, completely accidentally, hangs out with the piece of shit.  Any time he took too long to come skulking around, Mako wondered what other human he was annoying the piss out of, and told himself that that was good.  At least it wasn’t him–maybe he would stay gone.

He never did, though. He always showed back up, and when he did, Mako wanted to drag him up by his hair and press harsh kisses to his lips, bite his neck and press him into the bottom of the boat.  He hadn’t.  But he wanted to, and that was worse than just spontaneously doing it.

Despite the urge, he still figures he’s safe.  They are separate species.  Just because the fish was all over him every chance he got, and Mako felt a creeping possession in turn, didn’t mean that he had to worry about bonding with him.

He doesn’t worry.  Until a week later, when the putrid smell of the merman is different.  Mako has just turned his boat motor off when he smells it.  There’s something different today, though.  The disgusting stench of water-logged trash and scum is laced with something else, something that makes Mako stiffen immediately in his pants.

Mako starts the boat motor right back up and heads back to the shore, though he’s only just arrived.

Heat.

He’s smelled it before, knows what the hormones could do to a sane man with all the self control in the world, much less the sappy cunt he was turning out to be.

The scent follows him, and he pushes the throttle to hit the shore faster.  If he could get back on his bike, then he could escape the temptation.  He could get home and take a cold shower and he wouldn’t be thinking about the nuzzling and purring and the slime that coated the merman’s hand, about how slick he must be now that he was ripe and ready to fuck–

He leaves his shit in the boat as soon as his bow runs ashore.  He’s not coming back for at least two weeks.  A heat could last up to a week and a half, and he was not going to fuck some omega fish in his boat.  

It wasn’t going to happen.

He doesn’t slow down until he’s screeching onto the M1 going north.  The back tire of his bike fishtails from the hard handling, but Mako just amps up the speed. He feels too hot and the fresh air whipping past him isn’t doing a lick of good.  His throat is dry and he has to reach down and adjust himself several times on the way home to keep the vibrations from chaffing his hard cock.

Two freezing cold showers and half a bottle of whiskey later, Mako’s still aching and he’s beginning to leak damn near everywhere.

He feels his sanity slipping away from him as he finally wraps his hand around himself and begins jerking in hard, haphazard motions, the fish on his mind and curses on his lips.  He comes after only a few strokes, but it doesn’t ease the pain at all.

It aches worse when he knots in the cool air and he’s left gasping into his pillow, the damp sheets rough and painful against him as he jerks his cock until his arm shakes with the effort, trying to ease the knot and the nausea coiling tight in his stomach.

He, an alpha, had left an omega in heat.  Alone and likely to offer himself to anyone he saw just to make the pain of heat stop.

Mako turns his face into his pillow and bellows into it.  

—–

The next day, Mako’s back at the shore.  From afar, he can already see that someone had picked over his gear and left the neatly organized bins of his skiff ransacked.  The tarp he usually keeps tucked away, when it’s not covering his boat from the weather, flaps in the wind.  He stares out at the water and tries to take deep, calming breaths. He can still smell the fish.  It’s so potent that he’s already hard again.  He’s smelled omegas in heat plenty of times before.  They had never affected him like this.

Maybe it was because he had never spent time with them like he had the merman.  Never spent time with anyone who wasn’t an alpha, really.  

Alphas usually didn’t.  Not until they were ready to shack up, settle down… he was neither.

As Mako approaches the boat, he realizes that there’s something under the tarp, and when he catches sight of the orange tail on the floor of the boat, his legs break into a run, carrying all 250 kilos of him quickly to the stern of the boat to grab the flapping edge of the tarp and drag it off.

The fish is lying on the bottom of the boat, his right, stumpy arm wrapped around a jacket Mako keeps for when it rains and his left hand half-buried in the slit just below his belly.  He’s barely breathing and his tail looks unbearably dry aside from where there’s slick leaking from his… cloaca is probably the least sexy thing Mako could call it, even to himself.  “Get your hand out of your cunt,” he says, the scent heavy and thick and a hundred times worse now that it’s pooling on the bottom of Mako’s boat.  The disgusting urge to lap it up makes Mako want to puke.

The fish’s eyes snap open and he looks up without moving his head.  His lips are chapped and his skin is taut and paler than usual.  “Y’came back,” he says, his voice breaking around a dry throat.

Mako starts moving before he even knows what to do with himself.  Instinct kicks in and he shoves the boat off the shore before climbing in and reaching for the miserable, horny sad sack on the deck of his boat.

The fish flinches away from his hands, but Mako heaves him up into his arms anyway and ignores the slick slide of the scaly hip against his bare stomach, the ache of desperation his cock throbs with.  As much as he wants–needs– to fuck the merman, he needs to take care of him first.  He settles into the boat and turns on the engine, ignoring the press of fish tail against his erection, ignoring the slick hand trying to tug his fingers closer to the leaking opening.  Ignoring everything except getting his omega away from the shore, away from anyone who might try to take him from him or interrupt them, away from the temptation to run away again.

The fish is babbling, and his hand tugs at Mako’s harder, slipping and unable to get a good grip on his fingers, unable to drag Mako’s hand closer to his cunt because of all the goddamned slick leaking out of it.  It was everywhere, all over Mako’s sandals and shorts, and the floor of his goddamned boat.  He was never going to be able to wash it all out.  His boat was going to stink of omega slick for fucking months.

The fish had begun talking as Mako guided them out of the shallow bay and toward one of the small islands that was shit for fishing.  Away from the people he could see and far enough away from the good places that they were less likely to end up with someone investigating the stink of their fucking. Mako tunes the fish out mostly.  He ignores the story of how he had chased Mako’s boat all the way to shore and then he just swam around waiting for Mako to come back.  Alphas had come, one by one to pick over the boat, looking for him.  One of them had tossed Mako’s jacket over the edge in his frenzy.  

The fish had saved it.  Crawled up in his boat once everyone fucked off and then he–

Mako bites him to get him to shut up, clamping his teeth around the lobe of his ear and it draws a disgusting squelch from the fish’s cunt as a new wave of slick gushes out.

“You’re disgusting,” Mako tells the fish, something he told the thing near every goddamned time he got scummy bay water all over Mako’s clothes.

“Fuck me,” the fish demands, his sharp nails scraping deep across the back of Mako’s hand.

“No,” Mako says, instead of, “not yet.”  The fish whines and scratches parallel lines into his hand again, his claws sharp, but all Mako feels is a fiery desperation shoot straight to his cock instead of pain.  Hot blood leaks down his wrist and elbow.

“Fuck me,” the fish groans again, the metallic tang of blood no doubt mixing with Mako’s powerful musk.  He gushes again, and Mako doesn’t realize that he’s let go of the throttle until he’s got both hands on the fish and he’s turning him toward him, reaching for his waistband–

“Goddamnit, no,” Mako says forcefully, shoving the fish into the water.

The fish moans as the water takes him, and Mako keeps driving, not bothering to look back.  He needs shallow water and shelter for this.  There aren’t any coves on the islands, but the shore should be good enough.  Out of the way.

Mako’s skin tingles as he steps out of the boat and slogs his way up onto the dry sand, one hand hooked on the bow of the boat and the other adjusting himself, trying to make the discomfort more bearable until he could rip his shorts off and–

Just thinking about taking the merman makes his cock jump.  He has to stop and clench his fist, the wave of pleasure so strong, Mako wonders if he’s going to come right then.  He waits, eyes closed and breath shaking, for the feeling to pass.  The teetering feeling that he’s on the cusp of coming takes a long time to fade.

Just as Mako feels like he’s coming back to himself, a hand pulls at his shorts, and he opens his eyes.

The fish is lying on the beach, belly up and shining with water and slick.

He smells so good.

Mako’s thumbs hook into his waistband and he shoves down.  The fish lets out a high, delighted giggle that gurgles a little with the last of the salt water in his gills.

“Fuck me,” he invites Mako again.

“Shut up,” Mako rasps, stepping clear of his shorts.

The fish grins, his eyes locked on Mako’s erection.

With the heady smell of him so close, Mako’s already starting to leak.

The fish giggles again when he sees it, and Mako narrows his eyes at him.

“I said, shut up,” he growls.

It gets the merman to giggle again and bite his lip.

Mako feels something snap, seeing the needle-tipped teeth dig into his thin bottom lip, the hint of his tongue behind it.

He wants to shove his cock down the merman’s throat.  He knows it’s a bad idea.  So bad.

Mako forces his eyes away, down to the weeping slit.  Mako steps over the fish, braces one foot on either side of his tail and then drops to his knees with a heavy thud.  He groans as his cock slides against the fish’s wet tail.  It’s echoed, and the merman takes him in his hand, guides him forward with quivering fingers.

He’s cool, like a swimming pool on a hot summer day, refreshing and wet and Mako groans, leans forward to brace his hands on either side of the merman’s shoulders.

“Fuck,” Mako whispers, easing his way in.  The fish is already open, to a point, and it takes all of Mako’s self restraint not to just rip through him.

A whispered “don’t stop…” follows Mako pulling back out and replacing his cock with his fingers, after rinsing his hand of sand in the shallow water.

“Hang on,” Mako murmurs, his rough voice not at all soothing.

The fish whines until Mako reaches the point where the finger begins to stretch him open, then he moans.

Mako grins and pushes his finger deeper, though he only has about seven centimeters on the fish’s own long, thin digits.  His fingers were no match for his cock.  It would still be a tight squeeze, but with every bit of progress, the fish squirms and groans and brings Mako closer and closer to knotting outside of him and it reminds Mako that this was fucking ridiculous.  He was fingering a goddamned merman so that he could shove his dick into him.

He adds a finger and twists, making his omega lurch and gasp, shiver and whine.  Mako watches his fingers grasp at the sand, raking furrows in it over and over as he’s opened up more and more.  His eyes remain locked on the fish’s face, watching him chew at his lip, feeling the gush of slick around his fingers with every push deeper.  He wants to fuck him so badly.

“Shut up,” Mako mutters.  “Shut up or I’ll just go ahead and fuck you,” he growls.

“Then do it,” the fish giggles.  His hand reaches for Mako’s cock, but he’s stopped before he can get his sandy mitt around it.

“Alright,” Mako tells him.

The merman grins and licks his lips, leans up to press a kiss to Mako’s nose, then his mouth.  “Fuck me right and I’ll breed for you,” he groans.

As much as the thought of having guppies with this stupid fucking fish made his stomach turn, he also wanted to rail him for the comment.  Mako was in too fucking deep to pull out now.

Or, at least he is as soon as he pushes back in.  That refreshing feeling envelopes him again and Mako shivers, sliding in until he feels resistance, then pushing gently to see how easily the fish would give way.

Instead of waiting, the merman lurches up and lets out a breathless gasp when Mako’s cock spears him deeper.

He’s cool and tight, and all too willing to buck his hips when Mako’s being, what he can only assume is, too gentle.  So he stops holding back and doesn’t stop pushing in unless the fish sounds like he’s in pain.

He doesn’t.  At all.  His face is flushed a light purple, and his hand grips Mako’s arm, scratching lines down his arm from his shoulder to his elbow, then moving to his hip, digging in without yet breaking skin.

Mako pulls out and pushes back in, slow up until the sharp nails break his skin, then he shoves in until he feels resistance, bucks in further, then withdraws again.

By the time Mako’s fully sheathed inside the merman, he has a panting mess beneath him and he’s not sure if he misses his wise cracks or if he likes this better, too pleasured to speak and putty beneath him.

“You want it harder or faster?” Mako asks, his voice low and raspy.  It was the only way to keep himself in check.  He could go all out next time.

Next time?

He almost misses the fish’s plea for, “both, gods, both.”

Yeah, there was going to be a next time.

Mako gives him what he wants, rolling his hips harder and faster into the fish, making him groan and bite his lip and leave scratch marks wherever he could reach on Mako.

He leans down to kiss the merman and ends up with deep scratches from the back of his neck down to his collar bone.  It sends a jolt of electricity through him and Mako groans, kissing him more fiercely and allowing his hips to move on their own, almost certain he wouldn’t injure anything with rougher treatment.

The nails dig into his neck, his shoulder.  The pain acts as a counterpoint to the pleasure, hot and sharp compared to the slick and cool of the merman.  The stink of him is cloying, choking Mako with pheromones.  The sounds he makes are shamelessly vulgar.  High, needy mewls and gasps in time with the squish and suck of Mako fucking into him.

He’s so wet and easy that when Mako feels his knot swell, he tries to hold it back, tries to enjoy the sex just a bit longer, wonders if he can hold back until the fish comes first.  He was already so slick, he would probably gush around Mako–

He slams in deep with a harsh groan as he knots and it only takes a few more bucks before he’s filling the merman up. The hand clawing at his shoulder jumps to his hair and grips it hard as the fish thrashes beneath him.  The knot stretches him and locks them together, the flood of come filling him quickly.  They both go still, panting and shaking from the strain, the pleasure, and the anticipation of being locked together for hours, of seeing how full Mako could make him.

The fish drops his hand from Mako’s hair and rests it on his own thin stomach.  His belly is already bulging from Mako’s cock, the bump of Mako’s tip pressing up just above his belly button.  His come fills the merman quickly, softening the bump as it inflates him from the inside.

The fish rubs his stomach, a stupid grin on his face.

Mako has never seen anyone so happy to have taken his cock.  He likes it.

Mako presses a kiss to the fish’s lips, and when sharp teeth scrape across his bottom lip, he jolts his hips.  He swallows a gasp from the fish, chuckles and does it again.  

The merman giggles and wraps his arms around Mako’s neck, presses kisses to his face, anywhere he can reach.  

“How long?” the merman asks.  “How long do I get to be stuck with you?”

The hormones and afterglow tell Mako to say, “forever,” but he just presses another kiss to the merman’s lips and sighs.  “Few hours,” he rumbles, twitching his hips, watching the fish’s face as he fills him with more come.

“Perfect…” he groans, his insides moving around Mako.

It takes Mako a moment to realize that he’s milking him, and when he does, Mako stills and lets the fish– his fish kiss him, pet him, keep milking him dry.  This was something he should be doing, taking care of his omega, telling him what a good fuck he was, but he was frozen.  

The fish was filled with him and he wanted more.  He was taking more.

Mako kisses the merman deeply and starts moving again, rocking back and forth inside his fish, his merman, his omega, and he knows that he’s going to be right back here next month, sticking his cock into this oasis of a cunt.

How did he end up here after turning tail and running away the previous day?

The merman pulls back and licks his lips.  “This is nice,” he mutters.

Mako grunts his agreement and, when he sees the look on the merman’s face, he stops moving his hips, stares back with a furrowed brow and a frown.

The merman smiles and reaches up from stroking his swollen belly to cup Mako’s cheek.

“You’re nice,” he says, scratching Mako’s sideburn with his nails lightly.

Mako laughs and shifts to the side, wrapping his fish up in his arms and pressing a kiss that is far too tender to the fish’s nose.

“No one thinks I’m nice,” he tells him.

“I do,” the fish points out, looking absolutely delighted at the affection.

“You don’t count,” Mako tells him with a snort and a little upturn of his lips.

“Why’s that?” he asks around a yawn.

Mako looks down to make sure that the long tail is submerged in the water, that he’s comfortable.  His own feet are probably pruning, but he doesn’t mind or care.

“I don’t know who you are,” Mako tells the fish, bringing his arm up to slip under the omega’s head, pillowing it.  How romantic, he thinks wryly.  “I’m balls deep inside you and I don’t even know your name.”

“I told you it,” the fish almost looks offended, but it’s hard with his eyes half lidded and his thin lips parting in another yawn.

Cute.

“Tell me again,” Mako says, pressing a kiss to his lips, then his nose.

The merman makes a noise and looks at him expectantly.  It sounds vaguely like a carp’s clicking cry and he’s almost certain it might have syllables, but he would never be able to repeat it and the first time he heard it, he probably just thought the merman was being a weird cunt.

“I don’t speak fish,” Mako points out.

The merman shrugs and instead of getting offended, he makes himself comfortable on Mako’s thick, muscled arm.  “Then call me something,” he says sleepily.

Mako Rutledge was a pretentious name, and he had always imagined growing up that he would find a mate with something equally pretentious.

“Jamison,” Mako says, the name popping into his mind when he tries to think of the most ridiculous and over the top name he can.

“Hm… sure,” the fish yawns and turns his head to press a kiss to Mako’s bicep.  “Name’s Jamison.  Pleased to–” he cuts himself off in a yawn.

“Go to sleep, Jamison.”  It feels weird on his tongue.  Maybe he picked the wrong name.  “Go to sleep, Jamie,” he tries, and it feels better.

Jamie smiles and cracks his eye open to nuzzle into the crook of his elbow.  He begins purring, and Mako smiles, watches his eyes close again.

Jamie.

Mako holds him close with his right hand and pillows his head with his left arm.  Jamie’s left hand rests on the swell of Mako’s gut and they’re suddenly snuggling.

Fuck.  He was so screwed.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jamie has a surprise for Mako.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Brundle-Bambi was kind enough to draw fanart for this fic! It's embedded after the scene it's based on. You can find more of her art on her [tumblr](http://brundle-bambi.tumblr.com/) and show your support for her gorgeous art monetarily on her [Patreon](https://www.patreon.com/brundlebambi) and [Ko-fi](https://ko-fi.com/2164L3OSDLDR0)!

Jamie’s heats come once a month like clockwork, and Mako allows himself to get swept into them.  It’s because the sex is amazing.  That’s what he tells himself, but when Jamie comes to him with a hook in his tail, Mako nearly beats a man to death. He remembers the line wrapped around the black and orange scales, how swollen it was.  Thinks about how he might lose half of it and the smell of Jamie’s blood. He doesn't generally commit felonies for fuck buddies, so he knows there’s more to it; he just doesn't want to acknowledge it quite yet.

He can take his time, he thinks.  What could possibly happen to accelerate their non-relationship? Gifts? Check.  Talking? Check.  Sex outside of Jamie’s heat?

Check.  Several checks all in the same box.

Honestly, it’s more sex than he’s had in years, and it happens nearly every time he comes down to the water.  

Strangely, telling himself that the sex is purely casual doesn't make Mako feel any better.  In fact, it makes him feel worse when Jamie pulls himself into the boat and it startles Mako.  He’s so used to smelling Jamie on himself that he doesn't even realize he’s near.  

He takes a deep breath and glances down at the date on his watch.  It’s high time that Jamie hit his heat again.  

Maybe he’s late?  Mako never thought he would feel anticipation for the disgusting stink that usually permeated the entire lake like an oil spill.

Jamie plops himself onto Mako’s lap and his hand drops to his belly in an eerily familiar gesture.

Mako very nearly pushes Jamie out of the boat, a rush of panic making him deaf to Jamie’s chipper greeting.  It isn't until Jamie puts his hands on both sides of Mako’s face that he focuses on what _his_ fish is saying.

“We’re gonna have a clutch,” he says happily.

“We,” Mako says numbly.  Like hell he was going to raise pups.  Or guppies.  Or whatever the hell was in the soft pocket that he could see padding out the sharp lines of Jamie’s trim stomach.  He had noticed it last week too, but assumed that it was due to Jamie eating more often and in greater quantity.

Jamie nods enthusiastically and grabs Mako’s hand, pulls it up to feel his belly. There’s  something beneath his hand.  It’s small, firm, and it gives beneath his thumb, like the soft shell of a turtle egg. He worries that he’s being too rough and jerks his hand away.  

Jamie giggles at Mako’s horrified expression and grabs his hand to drag it back to his belly.  He looks over the moon about the whole thing.

Mako just doesn't know how to process it.  His instincts, however, are assuring him that he is, in fact, going to raise whatever the fuck is growing inside Jamie.  Something is _growing_.

“You’ve still been having heats,” Mako points out lamely.  He realizes too late that Jamie is due for one right now.  Due weeks ago, actually.

Jamie snorts and kisses Mako’s lips, then gives his bottom lip a sharp bite.  Mako rumbles in surprise and his tongue darts out to soothe the spot.  Jamie titters like he’s the silliest person in the world.  His nails comb through Mako’s hair and send the sharp sensation of goosebumps down his neck and arms.  Despite the surprise, Mako feels himself melting at the attention.  He holds Jamie more firmly with his other arm.  

“No I haven’t,” Jamie tells him.  “Haven’t had a heat in at least two months.” He presses his clammy lips to Mako’s cheek, then nips sharply at his jaw.  “Gotta keep better track of me, love.”

Mako hates that he knows around how many times they’ve fucked in the last two months, and that he can’t blame any of it on hormones.  “What do you need from me?” he asks, his hand beginning to move across Jamie’s stomach, pressing lightly against the soft pocket again, this time not pulling back when it gives beneath his hand.  Something warm swells in his gut and wars with the cold, heavy trepidation sitting in his chest.

“I need a warm place I can lay,” Jamie says, his hand picking at the fly of Mako’s overalls.

Mako grabs Jamie’s hand and gently pushes it away. It was the only thing keeping him from standing and dropping Jamie to the deck of the boat.  “Unless you have to spawn in my pants, leave it,” Mako says.

Jamie pouts and shifts his hips, causing the tip of his half-hard cock to poke through the slit just below his stomach.  “I can still fuck,” he insists.

Mako nearly dips his fingers in to tease Jamie out of habit, but he manages to stop himself.

“Not while you’re… pregnant…” Mako tells him.

Jamie makes a high whine and wraps his arms around Mako’s neck.  “Not even your fingers?” he wheedles, biting and sucking at Mako’s neck.  “I need _something…_ you make me so happy, I can’t just stop needing you for three months.”

“Three months…” Mako parroted.

“Should be.”  His lips and teeth pause against Mako’s neck and Mako feels him tilt his head to the side, one of the spines at the tip of his earfin scraping his shoulder.  He seems satisfied, because he shrugs and dives right back into nuzzling Mako’s neck.  “Sounds about right… Then I’ll be ready to lay and a few months later, we’ll have _babies_.” Jamie sounds excited at the prospect.

Mako feels the urge to shove Jamie out of the boat again.

“Bab _ies_?   _How many_?” he asks sharply.

Jamie pulls back at the sharpness and his smile falters.  Mako wishes he wasn’t reacting this way.  He wishes he could let the warmth of his instincts subsume him, but this wasn’t what he had wanted.  This wasn’t what he had signed up for.  They were different species, weren’t they?  He had already convinced himself that this wouldn’t happen. _Couldn’t_.

Jamie takes Mako’s fingers.  He doesn’t resist, numbly allowing the fish’s cold hand to guide his fingers to his stomach again.  He presses Mako’s fingers to his belly, and beneath the thin layer of fat, Mako feels the small lump again.  His thumb presses into it, but he doesn’t jerk back again. Jamie moves his hand from one soft lump to a second, then seems to be fishing around for another, but sighs and gives up after half a minute.

“There’s two.  And there’s _at least_ two more.” Jamie says with a fond lilt to his voice, though his eyes are watching Mako uncertainly. He holds Mako’s hand to him firmly, as if suddenly willing him to be okay with this.  “I… think there’s five, though.  Got a good feeling in my bones for it.” 

“Five… fucking _five_ …” Mako says.  Jamie’s tail is twitching.  When it gets dry, the muscles beneath the skin begin to contract and shiver. He gently lifts Jamie back toward the water to keep him wet. 

“Yeah… would’ve loved more, huh?” Jamie says wistfully and Mako drops Jamie suddenly.

His heart pounds at the thought of more than six of Jamie.  When the fish surfaces with a pout, Mako breathes out, “more…?”  Keeping one of Jamie a secret was tough enough. Seven or eight would be _hell_.

“Mhm….” Jamie clings to Mako’s hand and stares up at him with adoring orange eyes.  It makes him uncomfortable.  As much as he says he doesn’t like the fish… he doesn’t feel like he’s anywhere close to deserving the way Jamie constantly swoons over him.  He feels an affectionate pang in his chest and leans down to press a kiss to Jamie’s wet hair.

“... You’re sure it’s four?” Mako asks, sliding his hand down into the water to press his fingers against Jamie’s stomach.  Maybe if he does it enough, it will start to feel real.  

Jamie hauls himself back up Mako’s arm and onto the edge of the boat, then he tries to push Mako’s hand lower.  “ _Real_ sure,” he says, his voice dropping low and silky, the way that makes Mako’s head go fuzzy.

“Stop that,” Mako snaps, shaking the feeling out and dragging Jamie into his lap.  “I’ll see about figuring something out for the eggs,” he promises, wrapping his arms around Jamie and letting him leech away his warmth.  

It’s starting to get cooler.  Winter is a month away.  He wonders what will happen if he leaves and doesn’t come back.

Jamie settles for cuddling since Mako isn’t going to fuck or finger him.  Mako hasn’t even put his rod together and now that he has Jamie in his lap, purring and snuggling, he knows he’s not going to get close to fishing at this rate.

“Hand me the bait,” Mako says.

Jamie presses a kiss to Mako’s lips before reaching down to grab the styrofoam container from the floor of the boat.  Mako steadies him with his hands on his hips and dodges the writhing orange tail in a second nature feat of dexterity.  He must be out here too often.  Has Jamie wiggling on his lap too often.

Once Jamie’s properly settled back on his lap, Mako pops the container open and picks out a frozen chunk of squid.  Jamie leans into the crook of Mako’s arm, his tail flopping across the alpha’s broad lap and his head reclining back against Mako’s meaty shoulder.  He opens his mouth expectantly, sharp teeth bared and the corners of his lips upturned.

Mako feeds him slowly.  If he lets Jamie eat the frozen squid on his own, he will give himself a stomach ache from scarfing the half-frozen food too quickly.

When he first started feeding Jamie like this, the fish had been impatient and nearly taken his finger off a few times trying to get to the food quicker.  Once he had started eating more regularly—thanks to Mako helping him fashion a few tools to hunt with and feeding him the lion’s share of his bait and catch— he didn’t act like such a starving hobo of a merman and instead became docile and eager to have food handed to him.

Now that Mako didn’t have to worry about losing any appendages, he took his time letting go of the bits of fish, and sometimes even pulled them back, teasing Jamie until he sneered and wiggled up to bite Mako’s bottom lip, then left fishy trails of saliva across his lips, cheek and jaw just to fuck with him.

Jamie licks the blood and sticky residue off Mako’s chilled fingers every few pieces.  His claws press into Mako’s wrist and he holds him still while he cleans his fingers.  

“Sure you don’t want to fuck?” Jamie asks after a particularly showy display of sucking his way off of Mako’s index finger.

“Sure I don’t want you anywhere near my dick,” Mako replies with a snort.

Jamie pouts and lays back against Mako’s shoulder again, acting boneless and pathetic, like he can’t meet Mako’s hand anymore.  “Mako, I need _something_ ,” he says insistently.  “My hormones are going fucking nuts and my hand doesn't do anything but make me oversensitive,” Jamie says, wincing as he touches the tip of his cock still poking through his slit.

“I can’t smell it,” Mako says, tempted to help Jamie, but he holds a piece of squid up to the stupid fish’s lips instead.  He wasn’t going to break now. Part of taking care of his omega was making sure that he was fed and now he had to figure out a safe place for him to lay eggs.

Mako doesn’t have to get him off every time he wants it.

Jamie eats the squid pressed to his lips and his hand comes up from playing with his dick to hold Mako’s wrist, keeping his fingers close to his mouth.

Mako watches Jamie press kisses to his fingertips, then begin licking the squid gunk from his fingers again.  By the time he realizes what Jamie’s getting at, he’s sucking Mako’s finger into his mouth and looking up at him with half lidded eyes that make Mako’s dick ache.

“You’re not sucking my dick, either,” he tells Jamie firmly.

Jamie slides further down Mako’s finger and swallows around it.  He can feel Jamie’s gills just at the tip.  They usually flutter just beneath his head.  Jamie doesn’t need to take a break and breathe—Mako can just move water through his gills for him.

Mako jerks his finger out of Jamie’s mouth.

“You’re not.  Getting.  My cock.”

Jamie licks blood from the corner of his mouth and Mako realizes that his finger caught one of Jamie’s sharp teeth and is dripping blood onto the deck.

“Shit.” Mako gently sets Jamie down in the boat and tosses the container of squid on the deck next to him.

“Let me help,” Jamie says, dragging himself after Mako as he takes the step and a half to the stern for his first aid kit.

“No.”  Mako says, a little more harshly than he intends to.  “You’ve done enough.”

He hears Jamie stop moving, then a splash as he returns to the water after a moment of hesitation and the distinct drag of Jamie’s tail across the deck.

Mako sighs and cleans the cut.  Jamie would be back by the time he decided to return to shore.  Maybe by then he will have figured out how he feels about all this, or at least do a better job at faking it for Jamie.

Eggs, babies… fuck, he hadn’t actually expected to _breed_ Jamie.

Mako pinches the bridge of his nose and starts up his boat to head to the other side of their little band of islands.  The fishing is better there.  He glances down at the empty styrofoam and smiles a little.  Jamie couldn’t be too pissed at him if he had taken the rest of the squid.  He would save a few shrimp for him too.

He’s heard being pregnant burns a lot of calories.

——-

Mako has three fish large enough to keep when Jamie drags himself up into the boat.  Mako doesn’t notice again.  He’s too deep in his own head; he has been ever since he shut the motor off.

He still doesn’t know what to think about the eggs, but he’s made a little headway on what to do about them _._

Jamie pouts at him when Mako doesn’t acknowledge him past a grunt, then crawls over to steal his container of shrimp before moving to the other end of the boat to sulk.

They sit in a pensive silence for ten minutes before Mako pulls up an empty hook after a light tug.  He glances at Jamie curled around the container of half-thawed shrimp and decides to stow his rod rather than fight for his bait.  He wasn’t going to be able to get any more productive fishing done anyway.  This is a shit spot.  He’d just stayed here so that Jamie could find him more easily.

“You want to come cuddle again?” Mako asks after he’s pulled the anchor back up and begins steering them back into the islands so that they’re less visible.

Jamie pauses shoving five shrimp in his mouth to look over at Mako.

Mako tries to act like he’s not the one in the wrong, but he feels like an asshole.  He’s an alpha denying his omega.  He’s not thrilled to have bred him.  He hasn’t acted at all like a strong, caring mate-- hell, he hasn’t even accepted Jamie as his mate yet. He is the _very_ _definition_ of an asshole.

Jamie starts scarfing shrimp again without responding and Mako takes a deep breath before letting it out in a sigh.

Once they reach their usual point in the little island belt, Mako shuts off the engine and shifts down from his seat to sit on the deck of the boat with some difficulty.  He’s too old for this shit.

It takes less than a minute for Jamie to finish cleaning out the bait container.

Mako sits and waits patiently for Jamie to crawl over, getting deeper and deeper into his selfloathing the longer Jamie makes him wait.  He wonders if Jamie knows what he’s doing to him.  Probably not.

He’s clever, but not in that way.  Jamie doesn’t play games.

Jamie goes around the boat for several minutes, touching and fucking with every little thing he possibly can.  Eventually, Mako is the last thing left for him to focus on, and he reluctantly stares at Mako from across the deck.  He wants something from him.

Mako reaches behind him and takes his keys out of the ignition.  “Here,” he grunts and tosses them to Jamie.

They hit the deck, skittering across the deck until they reach Jamie’s fin.  The merman picks the keys up and begins fiddling with them.  His sharp teeth worry at his lip, and he keeps picking and toying with the keys, his uncomfortable gaze focused on the gold and silver keys instead of Mako now.

Mako leans back against the seat and closes his eyes, the click of keys assuring him that Jamie was nearby, safe, and not staring at him like he was afraid speaking to Mako would lead to more uncertainty.  It killed him leaving Jamie behind in the estuary some days.  He was always worried he would get caught in a net or hit by a propeller.

Eventually, the keys stop moving and he hears water move as Jamie wets his tail.

He hopes Jamie isn’t running off with his keys to punish him.  Just as he has the thought, though, he hears the familiar rasp of Jamie’s tail dragging across the deck.

Eyes still closed, Mako smiles as he feels Jamie pull himself up using the front of his overalls, keys jingling with each fistful of fabric.  Once he’s up and leaned against Mako, Jamie presses his face into his neck.

“Miss me?” Mako asks.

Jamie doesn’t reply and Mako brings his head up and pulls away to look down at him.  Jamie’s lost in thought.

“Hey,” he says, bringing his arms up around Jamie and pressing a kiss to his largest bald spot.

Jamie finally looks up at Mako and forces a smile.

Mako presses a kiss to his lips and continues to kiss him until Jamie lets the keys fall to the deck and his arms wrap around Mako’s neck.

Mako unzips his overalls and drags Jamie closer.  He can’t stand this.  He can’t stand Jamie being unhappy because of him.

When he tries to thrust against Jamie’s slit, Jamie pushes away from him and makes fish noises.

Mako lets Jamie move away and frowns.

He thought that this is what Jamie wants.

“Later, maybe,” Jamie says, and he looks guilty, like he’s doing something wrong by pushing Mako away.

Mako tucks himself away and reaches for Jamie, pulling him back in and wrapping his arms around him firmly.

Jamie purrs against his chest, and Mako feels a smile pulling at his lips.

They sit there for a while in silence, then Mako says, “come stay with me.”

Jamie pulls back and Mako might have just given him the world, his expression is so delighted.

He regrets not asking sooner, though that would have been _ridiculous._ They’ve only been fucking for… shit, was it eight months? And they weren’t _mates_.  Mako shoves at the uncertain feeling coiling deep in his gut.   _Yet_.

Jamie kisses Mako, hard and happy.  His teeth pull at Mako’s bottom lip and his tongue, fishy and disgusting, pushes past lips and teeth to slide against Mako’s own.

Mako kisses back, not nearly as disgusted by the pungent taste as he his nose tells him he should be.

Mako pulls away when his hand strokes down Jamie’s tail and his fingers stick against dry scales.  “C’mon,” Mako says, pressing a few more gentle kisses to Jamie’s lips as he shifts to get on his knees and carries Jamie to the edge of the boat.

His left knee and thigh ache, but Mako doesn’t let go of Jamie so that he can stretch his leg out.  Once Jamie’s tail is sufficiently rehydrated, Mako fishes him back up into the boat and gets comfortable with his legs splayed out before allowing Jamie to settle against him again.

It would be nice to sit in a bath like this, not having to pause for Jamie to wet his tail.  Jamie would never want Mako to leave him, though.

Jamie nuzzles Mako’s neck, then pulls back to smile up at him, adoring and happy.  “I’m glad it’s you,” Jamie says.  

“Better be me,” Mako says gruffly.  “After all the time and bait you’ve weedled out of me, you better not get bred by some other asshole.”

Jamie laughs and presses kisses to Mako’s scowling face.  He can’t keep it up for long, and ends up kissing back with a soft laugh.  Fuck, he loves this fish.

“I love you,” Mako says aloud for the first time.

Jamie snuggles closer to Mako’s chest and sighs.

There’s nearly silence, just their breathing and Jamie’s tail flopping against the deck.  If his tail was still, his hands weren’t; if his hands were occupied, his tail twitched and moved.

“Might not really be five,” Jamie admits suddenly, and that brings Mako’s attention back from the orange and black iridescent scales shimmering in the sun.  “I’ve lost eggs before.  Some… they might not hatch.”

Mako feels a pang of loss, even though he _doesn’t want this_.  He pulls Jamie’s head back to kiss his stupid fish anyway.  “Everything will be fine,” he says gruffly, even though he doesn’t know what “everything” is or whether it will really be “fine.”  Jamie smiles, though, and somehow that’s all he wants.

“Everything will be fine,” Mako says again, gathering Jamie close and pressing kisses to his face.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to Thyme for the beta and special thanks to Cancel, one-irradiated-muppet, Shanks, and Skadi.

The pet store employee mumbles through his explanations of fish care, obviously cowed by the fact that Mako is a much larger alpha.  Mako takes notes on a small tablet, trying not to growl at how submissive the other man is being.  He’s only moderately successful and it just makes it worse when he loses his patience and snaps at him to speak up.

He would need to dechlorinate the water for his fish.  Mako shows him a picture of Jamie’s tail, but the guy says without seeing the way the head and fins were built, it’s difficult to tell.  He gives Mako some custom tank suggestions and pointed him toward the dechlorination tablets and a few books on fish identification before scuttling off.

Mako flips through a few of the books, but none of the markings really match Jamie.  The estuary is fresh water, and he supposes Jamie can tell him whether he needs the water cooler or warmer.  He feels driven to make a plan, though, to figure out what he can do to make Jamie most comfortable and happy.

To make him a suitable nest.

For his— _their_ — eggs.

Mako leaves the shop with a bucket of dechlorinator, a few fish books, some “tank essentials” and a bad mood.  He wants to have the bath ready for Jamie when he brings him home and doesn’t know what else he can do to make the bathroom more homey for him.  He lives sparsely himself, and Jamie is a fucking hobo fish, so he doesn’t understand why he gives a damn.

He reads while he waits for the water to dechlorinate.  Apparently fish like rocks and places to hide.  He glances at the tub and sighs before checking his watch.  Another few minutes and he would test the water.  

Mako gets through a few more pages, not really absorbing the information before he sets the book down and rubs his face.  Why did this happen _now_? He’s almost _fifty_ and he’s at the stage in his life— well, the _thought_ he was—where he just wants to be left alone to fish and live off of his retirement in peace.  He wanted a mate years ago, but they were never a good fit.  He wanted a family but it just never happened, so he threw himself into work until he could pull a fat retirement check for the last twenty-ish years he expects to be around.  

Now he might have what he always wanted, just not the timing or… species… he planned for.

Mako checks the water to keep himself busy and move his mind away from the uncomfortable thoughts about the future.  When the sample in the vial doesn’t react to the testing solution, he finally gets up to leave.  He has a long plastic container in the back of his gas guzzling SUV with a tarp beneath it.  It should be just deep enough for Jamie’s tail and so long as he’s not breathing the tap water, the chlorine of the hose by the dock should be fine to fill the transport tub.

When he gets to the estuary, an overly friendly beta waves at him and comments on him not riding his bike.  Mako stoically stares at him while he fills his tub until the man gets the hint and turns around to mind his own business.  Mako turns the water off once the tub is half full and then drives carefully down a side road that runs nearly parallel to the dock.

Once he finds an abandoned section, he backs his SUV through the scrub and dirt separating them before getting out and barely taking three strides to reach the water.  He breathes in but doesn’t smell Jamie.   Mako removes his boots and socks before shifting down to sit on the wooden planks with his feet in the cold water.  He leans back on his hands and enjoys the breeze, though he wishes he had another layer on.  

The chill in the air worries him somewhere deep and instinctive and that worry latches onto Jamie’s admission that he’s lost eggs before.  However, that made it sound like he had also had eggs hatch and be fine.  Mako grips the edge of the dock and draws in a deep breath.  Jamie would find him.  He always found him, even when Mako was actively going out of his way to shake him.  Going out from a different dock, wearing clothes that didn’t smell like him, using alpha suppressants that had just left him hazy and miserable enough to allow the fish to cuddle with him…

When Mako finally scents Jamie, a surge of excitement rolls through him.  He sees the long orange and black tail swimming toward him at a distance and lets his instincts take over.  He dips his hand down into the water and soon clawed fingers take it.  Jamie shoves his slimy face against Mako’s palm as Mako fishes him out of the water and into his lap.

Jamie curls around Mako, pressing his lips to his neck and jaw, nipping and kissing like he hadn’t just seen Mako a few days ago.  He’s probably used to seeing him everyday, Mako realizes as the slimy lips and sharp teeth make it to his mouth and Jamie shoves his tongue past Mako’s lips.  

Mako huffs and presses his tongue against Jamie’s briefly before pushing him back.  He doesn’t want to get too involved in Jamie out in the open, but the rotten fishy taste in his mouth leaves him wanting more and he presses a more chaste kiss of his own to Jamie’s pout.  “Wait until we get home,” Mako promises.

Jamie grins at that and tries to throw himself at Mako again, but Mako keeps him at bay with a hand on his bony chest. “I love you,” Jamie says happily. 

Mako pets Jamie’s face with his other hand and draws him in for a gentle, sweet kiss that leaves the fish crooning for more.  Mako shoves his instincts to relent back again and sets Jamie down on the docks so that he can use both hands to shove himself up and keep his balance.  Once he’s up, Jamie drags himself up Mako’s overalls to get to his lips again and Mako wraps his arms around Jamie. It’s so weird to be standing with Jamie clinging to him.  Mako’s hands are around his hips and when he breaks the kiss, Jamie nuzzles his second chin and then deeper into his thick neck.  

“The ride might be uncomfortable,” Mako tells Jamie.  

“It won’t be if you’re there,” Jamie says, sounding as strung out on omega hormones as Mako has ever heard him.

He lets out a soft laugh and carries Jamie toward the SUV.  “Can’t ride with you,” he tells him, suddenly realizing that he left his boots on the dock.  His feet crunch through the gravel and he makes a mental note to go back and get them before they leave. “You’ll be in water and I’ll be in the front.”

Jamie whines and presses into the crook of Mako’s shoulder and neck like he wants to hide from the explanation there.  “I don’t want you to leave me,” Jamie whines.  “Not again…”

Mako curses as a flood of protective alpha bullshit courses through him.  He holds Jamie closer with one arm as he opens the back door of the SUV with the other.  Jamie clings so tightly that Mako picks up his tail first and slides it into the water to see if it will help him loosen up. Maybe he should have gotten some of that stress relieving additive he saw in the fish aisle.  He had assumed that because Jamie was half human he could be reasoned with to calm the fuck down.

Mako didn't expect to be out in the open with him for this long.  He hears a motor up on the road and lets go of Jamie so that he can use his hands and knees to crawl into the back of the large vehicle before Jamie and his stupid ear and arm fins can be seen.  Jamie’s tail flops around, flinging water all over the bed of the SUV before settling beneath Mako, out of the tub of water.  Jamie arches up against him to press his tail between his legs and flops it over in a pseudo-curl around his thigh.

“Is this your home?” Jamie asks, still nuzzling and kissing.  

Mako snorts and cranes his neck to look behind him.  The sound of a slowly moving motor is still there. He hooks his heel into the door-close button and, once they’re safely cut off from the world, he relaxes.

“I like it,” Jamie murmurs between kisses.  “It smells like you…”

Mako tries to shift onto his side but Jamie doesn’t uncurl his tail and Mako doesn’t want to lay on top of it and risk hurting him.  “This isn’t where I live,” Mako tells him.  “This is just my transportation.”

Jamie hums and finds a good place to suck on Mako’s neck. 

Mako feels the slick prod of Jamie’s cock against his stomach and rolls his eyes.  Well, if they’re going to be stuck there until some dipship gets their fill of looking at the docks…

Mako traces his fingers down the sharp lines of Jamie’s side until he reaches the still-strange curve of his belly.  He feels one of the eggs pressing against his thumb and the same kind of need races through him as when Jamie’s in heat.  It’s hot, electric, and Mako drops his hand from Jamie’s stomach to the fly of his overalls.  

Jamie knows what Mako’s fumbling means and bites his neck eagerly with a happy whine.  “Please fuck me…” he begs.  “Mako…”

Mako pulls his cock out and strokes himself to get hard enough to fuck Jamie properly.  He remembers what he said last week, remembers how disgusted he had been thinking of fucking a pregnant fish, but… well, everything about Jamie is goddamned disgusting.  There was a time when he wouldn’t let Jamie’s mouth near his cock, but then one of his favorite pastimes became fucking Jamie’s throat while he was in the water.

He’s sunk further into the murky, slimy waters of merman fucking than he could have ever expected when Jamie first popped his balding head over the edge of Mako’s boat—what’s the harm in plunging a little further?

Mako finds the slick slit beneath Jamie’s cock and thrusts his fingers in to open Jamie up.  The claws at his shoulder dig in and he feels welts springing up from where they scraped across his back.

Jamie whines and thrashes beneath him, bucking against Mako’s fingers and begging in a raspy, desperate groan.

Mako stops fingering Jamie so that he can drag his face up from his neck to kiss him deeply.  His lips are dry and so are his gums.  Mako braces both hands on the floor of the SUV and shifts Jamie into the tub and then braces one of his knees in the narrow tub of water and one outside so that he can straddle Jamie.  There’s no way he can straddle the tub itself—his thighs are too short— but he can deal with one leg getting wet so long as Jamie’s comfortable.  Water floods Jamie’s mouth and Mako tastes fish, mud and slick as he kisses him.  

He doesn’t have any more qualms about sticking his cock in Jamie and begins shallowly thrusting into him.  Jamie shivers and arches beneath Mako, his half-arm holding onto him and his claws piercing the skin at Mako’s shoulder.  Mako grunts and tries to shake him off.  Jamie lets go and rubs Mako’s arm, kissing his jaw with a gurgled apology.

Mako groans and thrusts faster, rolling his hips into Jamie as the familiar cool, wet slit welcomes him and squeezes around him tightly with each buck of Jamie’s hips.  His cock rubs beneath Mako’s gut and steadily leaks between them.  It feels a bit awkward with Jamie having a stomach that presses back against Mako’s, and he tries to avoid crushing Jamie like he normally would to fuck him harder.  He feels like he has to be gentler than usual, more careful, and so coming takes longer and makes everything feel more intimate and sweet once Jamie’s rush of desperate hormones ebbs.

Jamie returns to kissing and sucking on Mako’s lips and jaw as he’s sweetly fucked back and forth in the sloshing water, the pace picking up and dropping with Mako’s mounting stamina.

Mako groans and tucks his face against Jamie’s neck when he feels his gut coil tightly.  He remembers Jamie’s belly and reluctantly pushes him away so that he can sit up on his knees instead, leaving Jamie lying in the water. He doesn’t want to risk crushing their eggs when he begins to lurch harder.  Mako grips Jamie’s waist firmly and his thumbs pet the edges of his baby belly.  The change in angle has Jamie shivering and shaking as his cock spurts across his stomach and chest, mewling Mako’s name.

Mako keeps fucking until he comes inside Jamie, then he shoves deeper so that he knots him properly.  Jamie lays beneath him, making soft purring noises as he moves around Mako, clenching as the knot swells and then relaxing once he’s sufficiently full.  

Mako shifts onto his side as much as he can with the edge of the plastic tub in the way, supporting himself with one arm and pulls Jamie close with the other, their respective bellies making it an awkward fit.  Jamie nuzzles into his neck, kissing at his stubble and still making happy, needy sounds that make Mako’s hips twitch every once in a while when a spike of pleasure floods him and he wants to burrow deeper, though he’s up to his balls in the merman.

Jamie eventually stills, clinging to Mako, and he wonders if he drifted off into a nap before Jamie says softly, “I didn’t know if you were coming back.”

Mako tightens his arm around Jamie and presses his face into his hair, giving one of his bald spots a kiss.  “You always worry about that,” he points out.  He thinks Jamie does anyway.  Mako certainly thinks about it often, especially in the last few days…

Jamie shakes his head and clings tighter.

Mako rubs his back soothingly.  It’s not the first time Jamie’s gotten emotional while Mako’s knotted in him.  It’s how he learned about Jamie’s memory issues—real issues, not just forgetting a few things every once in a while—and his lonely lack of other merpeople.  He claims to be friends with fish, but Mako can’t help assuming it's vastly one sided.

“I’m here now,” Mako points out, his arm starting to cramp painfully.  When Jamie doesn’t respond, Mako tilts his head up and sees his eyes are nearly closed and he looks drowsy.  It would be a cold day in hell when Mako talks more than Jamie, but he probably hasn’t slept much in the past few days and Mako didn’t bring any food with him…

Mako grunts and shifts to roll over onto his back in the van.  The knot drags at Jamie and Mako pulls him out of the tub and on top of him when he whimpers. “Sorry…” he grunts. The movement jostles his cock and Jamie squeezes around him, settling quickly into a happy puddle on top of Mako.  The itch of pleasure just out of reach teases behind his knot, but Mako just stretches his cramping arm out before wrapping Jamie up and closing his eyes.   He would have plenty of chances to fuck the fish once they were home.  For now, he needs some sleep and comfort.


End file.
